A VIOLENT stomach bug is sweeping the country and pushing hospitals to breaking point. Some have already turned away patients because they have no beds available.
In the past week, the bug has prompted several hospital trusts to issue Black Alerts – the highest state of emergency for the NHS.
The sudden outbreaks of the bug, norovirus, has seen stretched hospital staff forced to keep patients waiting in ambulances outside casualty departments while they try to find beds for them. At other hospitals, wards have had to be closed to new admissions as the bug takes a hold on existing patients – further exacerbating the bed shortage.
The depth of the crisis, which began to worsen about 10 days ago, has been highlighted by a series of leaked memos from hospital managers.
Norovirus led to the closure of wards at 10 hospitals across the country last week, prompting a raft of Black Alerts, with trusts warning of worse to come as the winter months take hold. Hospitals in
